president barack obama and german chancellor angela merkel have said. any indication russian officials are concerned about that? >> reporter: it was interesting that that press conference between angela merkel and barack obama, they appeared to lower the bar, the threshold for that third tier of sanctions to be implemented against russia. in the case of russia not just invading ukraine which was the previous position, but if russia continues to disrupt the situation ahead of the may 25th elections. yes, i think there is deep concern in russia about the possibility of those sanctions. whether it's deep enough, though, to prevent russia from taking action to intervene inside eastern ukraine and southern ukraine is still very much a moot point. certainly there's been outrage expressed here in russia from all sorts of quarters, from the president down at the deteriorating security situation inside eastern ukraine. the kremlin saying they've received thousands of requests from people in the south and east of the country for assistance. pleas for assistance,